Potsdam United Methodist Church service July 13 will commemorate ‘first’ from 1904

Tuesday, July 8, 2014 - 5:25 pm

POTSDAM -- It will be “same church, different pews” at the Potsdam United Methodist Church on Sunday, as worshippers recreate a service from 1904, when the church was under construction.

All are welcome to attend at 10:30 a.m. in the 26 Main St. church.

Instead of using the sanctuary, parishioners will worship in the Fellowship Hall – then called the Education Hall -- just as they did on July 10, 1904. On that date the congregation worshipped in this building for the first time and continued to do that until the sanctuary was completed and dedicated in March 1908.

The 110th anniversary service will include hymns from the 1878 Methodist Episcopal hymnal then in use and the scriptures will be read from the King James Version. Seating will include a variety of new and old chairs as well as old pews. Attendees are invited to dress in ways that reflect the early 20th century.

The July 13, 1904 issue of the Potsdam Courier and Freeman describes the hall as follows: “The Sunday School room in which services will be held until the completion of the auditorium, is excellently adapted for its intended use. It provides nine class rooms, separated by flexible doors, a secretary’s office and library. The orchestra has an ideal location on the balcony, overlooking the central rotunda. A large room at the right affords storage for music books. The library will care for 1,500 volumes. The lighting by day is soft, restful, and sufficient by means of windows furnished to the memory of former and present church workers. At night upwards of a hundred electric lamps make brilliant the artist’s work.”

The church is handicapped-accessible with an elevator. There is ample parking nearby. For more information call the church office, 265-7474.